World growth grinds to virtual halt

The bad news continues. The IMF has revised down the world's growth rate [PDF] to the lowest level since the second world war. The world's economy is simply projected to come to a standstill in 2009. And since we live in a globalized world, where national economies can't affect sustained growth on their own, a coordinated effort is being called for.

The advanced economies of the world won't be suffering alone in 2009. As noted in the whining recently at Davos, the developing economies will also be feeling pain. The rampant consumerism in the advanced economies is being brought to a full stop as wallets empty and credit cards are maxed out -- that in turn is leading to a dramatic cut in demand for cheap products from the developing economies -- who are also experiencing a slow down in consumer demand at home.



In calling for concerted global effort to restore the financial sector to good health, the IMF is calling for "capital injections, and disposal of problem assets." Yes, don't you love that? More public money is being asked for to shore up banks so they can loan and invest -- and all of their bad investments are asked to be taken over by the public. Don't misunderstood that. It doesn't mean that the bad investments will turn good eventually -- although there is that possibility -- but it is such a low possibility, that the IMF is asking for the public to fund the fuck-ups of the bastards who are still collecting fat cheques and bonuses.



After the public is done loaning and just giving away money to cover the banks losses, the IMF is then suggesting that consumers should be encouraged to spend more of what they don't have. Borrow from their future so the absurdity can continue unabated. Are they out of their minds? Shouldn't this be a period for resetting? Maybe this crazy system of where we borrow money from developing economies so we can spend it on their goods -- transferring wealth to developing economies in the form of our debt -- should stop -- or at least slow down a little. It's not sustainable. We can't keep this up. They can't keep it up. Domestic demand in the developing economies also need to rise. That alone would be a step in the right direction.

And maybe, just maybe, we should stop spending money we don't have. Just a little. It's just a thought.